Offence of 'failure to prevent fraud' introduced by ECCTA
Guidance for large organisations on the offence created by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023.
- From:
- Home Office
- Published
- 6 November 2024
- Last updated
- 10 October 2025 — See all updates
Documents
Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023: Guidance to organisations on the offence of failure to prevent fraud
PDF, 474516 KB, 46 pages
This file may not be suitable for users of assistive technology.
Request anEconomic accessibleCrime format.
Ifand youCorporate useTransparency assistiveAct technology2023: (suchGuidance asto aorganisations screenon reader)the andoffence need a version of thisfailure documentto inprevent afraud more(accessible accessible format, please email alternativeformats@homeoffice.gov.ukWelsh). Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.
HTML
Request anEconomic accessibleCrime format.
Ifand youCorporate useTransparency assistiveAct technology2023: (suchGuidance asto aorganisations screenon reader)the andoffence need a version of thisfailure documentto inprevent afraud more(accessible accessible format, please email alternativeformats@homeoffice.gov.ukWelsh). Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.
HTML
Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023: Guidance to organisations on the offence of failure to prevent fraud (Welsh version)
PDF, 438493 KB, 4647 pages
This file may not be suitable for users of assistive technology.
Request an accessible format.
Introducing a failure to prevent fraud offence: Impact assessment
PDF, 696582 KB, 43 pages
This file may not be suitable for users of assistive technology.
Request an accessible format.
Introducing a failure to prevent fraud offence: Impact assessment (signed)
PDF, 2.08601 MBKB, 44 pages
This file may not be suitable for users of assistive technology.
Request an accessible format.
Details
The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA) created a new corporate criminal offence of ‘failure to prevent fraud’.
This guidance provides advice to large organisations on procedures they can put in place to prevent fraud.
Under the legislation, an organisation will be criminally liable where:
- a specified fraud offence is committed by an employee, agent or other ‘associated person’, for the organisation’s benefit
- the organisation did not have ‘reasonable’ fraud prevention procedures in place
It does not need to be shown that company managers ordered or knew about the fraud.
The offence applies to:
- all large incorporated bodies, subsidiaries and partnerships
- large not-for-profit organisations such as charities if they are incorporated
- incorporated public bodies
The offence does not apply to:
- police forces
- government departments
The offence willcame come into effect on 1 September 2025.
WeThe areguidance awarewas thatupdated thesein publicationsOctober may2025 haveto accessibilityuse issues.
Wethe areterm reviewing‘subsidiary themundertaking’ soas thatset weout canin fixthe these.
Readlegislation, morerather aboutthan our accessible documents policy.‘subsidiary’.
Updates to this page
Published 6 November 2024
Last updated 10 October 2025
href="#full-history">+ show all updates
-
Updated to use the term 'subsidiary undertaking' as set out in the legislation, rather than 'subsidiary'.
-
First published.
Sign up for emails or print this page
Details
The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA) created a new corporate criminal offence of ‘failure to prevent fraud’.
This guidance provides advice to large organisations on procedures they can put in place to prevent fraud.
Under the legislation, an organisation will be criminally liable where:
- a specified fraud offence is committed by an employee, agent or other ‘associated person’, for the organisation’s benefit
- the organisation did not have ‘reasonable’ fraud prevention procedures in place
It does not need to be shown that company managers ordered or knew about the fraud.
The offence applies to:
- all large incorporated bodies, subsidiaries and partnerships
- large not-for-profit organisations such as charities if they are incorporated
- incorporated public bodies
The offence does not apply to:
- police forces
- government departments
The offence willcame come into effect on 1 September 2025.
WeThe areguidance awarewas thatupdated thesein publicationsOctober may2025 haveto accessibilityuse issues.
Wethe areterm reviewing‘subsidiary themundertaking’ soas thatset weout canin fixthe these.
Readlegislation, morerather aboutthan our accessible documents policy.‘subsidiary’.
Updates to this page
-
Updated to use the term 'subsidiary undertaking' as set out in the legislation, rather than 'subsidiary'.
-
First published.
Sign up for emails or print this page
Update history
2025-10-10 13:47
Updated to use the term ‘subsidiary undertaking’ as set out in the legislation, rather than ‘subsidiary’.
2024-11-06 10:48
First published.